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segregation the County system must contend with. A merged system would also allow synergies to be realized in new buildings and postpone or eliminate a significant amount of future building needs. We ask you to set aside all the politics and make this decision based on what is best for all of the children of Orange County. Bussing -you want to talk about bussing? Come on down to southern Orange County, we bus our kids a couple of hours a day. Collaboration -I've been waiting for collaboration for ten years. Promises are hollow anymore. We urge you to merge. Katharine Everson: My name is Katharine Everson, and I'm a teacher in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools. Thank you for the opportunity to share my opinions and concerns. I am speaking tonight to voice my strong opposition to a merger of the two school districts. I also wish to voice my strong support for equalizing funding between our districts by raising funding for Orange County schools. I believe that increased funding for Orange County schools is long overdue and would be well supported. So why would I be opposed to a merger? Because I believe the objective of equalized funding for our districts can be achieved without compromising quality, the sense of community, or the mission of either one. Why is it that we cannot support two distinct districts equally well? Exactly what will it cost us both to devote our human and financial resources to negotiating through the maze of merger. Chapel Hill is already grappling with the continued growth of our system. Since my arrival in 1983, the number of elementary schools has nearly doubled. How could we possible support the opening of a new high school at our current levels of local support and local services as our district tax is reduced and we are held harmless during the phase-in period of a merger? What about the cost in student achievement and staff effectiveness. What will happen to our unique commitment in the areas of curriculum alignment, locally funded assistance to support inclusion of special needs students, and powerful uses of technology and technology specialists? How could this not compromise our efforts to provide equity for minority students? To that end, we have invested in community partnerships, we have finally begun a serious assault upon institutional racism, we have wrestled personally with our prejudices, we are finally celebrating diversity in the classrooms on a daily basis, and we are beginning to see promising gains among our African American students. We still have much work to do. But what will happen to that focus in the face of a merger and the energy and resources that such a merger would entail? Your own staffs report on the possible impact of a merger states that many such questions will be on the scope of your analysis. Where is the thoughtful study of such questions, which assures me, as a professional educator, that a merger is the soundest educational direction for all our students? As a professional, I also have to ask about the impact of this merger on my present salary, and therefore future retirement. I began teaching in 1970. Clearly, I am not in this for the money. But as a National Board Certified Teacher, would I be reassigned in order to equalize teacher resources? These are just some of the sobering questions the merger issue generates. I urge you to support alternatives to a merger as you initiate equalized funding between our two districts. Thank you. Tom Rankin: I want to first thank Moses Carey for at least putting this discussion in place. It always takes somebody to point to a problem to even have any discussion,